Unedited from Dec. 07 Tahoe Mt. News
Caples Lake project stalled
Because so many comments were received regarding the draft environmental impact report for the proposed Caples Lake boat launch and access road project, it is going to be re-issued to include the new material.
El Dorado Irrigation District operates the lake on Highway 88 in Alpine County on the way to Kirkwood from South Lake. The irrigation district wants to build a parking lot, two-lane boat ramp, restrooms, picnic tables, ancillary facilities and a well on the northeast shore of Caples Lake.
Officials had hoped to have a public hearing and certify the final EIR last month. It is not known when the revised draft will be re-circulated for another 45-day comment period.
“We believe that we have received significant new information that we were previously unable to include,” said EID spokeswoman Deanne Kloepfer. “And we received new information in relation to comments on the draft EIR.”
Specifics about the comments were not available.
For more information, contact W. Chris Work with El Dorado Irrigation District, at (530) 642-4021.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Angora -- Survivor keeps hanging in there
unedited Dec. 07 Tahoe Mt.News story
Editor's note: This is a monthly article following one of the hundreds of people who lost their homes in the Angora Fire in summer 2007.
By Kathryn Reed
The "for sale" sign is gone. Fingers are sore. Trips to doctors are ongoing. Checks arrive unexpectedly. Another year older. Kitchen is essentially duplicated. Holiday decorations don't seem that important.
That's a snapshot of the last month of John Mauriello's life.
Mauriello is content to hold on to his Mount Olympia Circle lot until spring before he decides whether to build or sell.
"Mathematically, where the real estate market is I can buy an existing house for cheaper than rebuilding a smaller house," he said in early December. "People who are building up there don't know what it's like to live up there. There's no wildlife."
He admits the views are better. But without trees, the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and other critters aren't scurrying about like they did before the illegal campfire erupted into an out of control blaze that destroyed more than 250 homes on June 24.
Mauriello noticed the absence of wildlife almost immediately upon moving into a rental in the burn area last month. It's one of the more ominous things about being there. Coyotes -- that's all he's seen.
He worries about seeing a prefabricated house being assembled, questions if it conforms to regulations up here and wonders what it might do to property values. Then he wonders aloud if this type of house is OK, then why is the county building department making it so difficult to build from scratch?
Life goes on
On Thanksgiving weekend, the retiree turned 69. It was a low key event.
For the holiday, he had a few friends over to eat a bird and all the trimmings.
A week before Thanksgiving, this insensitive reporter asked if he'd be making any family recipes.
"They were destroyed," Mauriello said to silence on the other end of the phone. "We'll see how good my memory is. If I screw up, I have an excuse."
The best part of that weekend was Saturday when his grand piano arrived.
"When you get to my age and you stop playing for a couple months, your fingers get pretty stiff," Mauriello said two days after the Yamaha arrived.
His insurance company reimbursed him for the large expense in a matter of days. He had to show proof of purchase for the first grand. The company where he had bought it from was able to provide documentation.
Sheet music is still something he needs to acquire. Jazz and classical are what he enjoys playing the most.
For the most part his kitchen is stocked with items he had before the fire -- at least the things that could be replaced.
"Yesterday I went and bought more stuff. I still haven't scratched the surface. I bought things like throws for the furniture for the cats. Stuff I had at the other place," Mauriello said Nov. 12. "I spent the whole day buying towels, bathroom rugs. Usually things that take years to accumulate you are buying all at once. It's a pain in the ass."
Typical of so many in Tahoe, Mauriello lives in tennis shoes and hiking boots. On Dec. 3, he was out shopping. He didn’t get any shoes, but knows the flip flops are going to have to be put away for a few months.
"When you have the opportunity of starting over again, you are a little more selective of what you buy. You don't just buy something that is junk," Mauriello said.
He has a snow shovel. Replacing the snow blower will happen when there is something to blow.
He began Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. figuring out his inventory -- something that has been a burden since everything he owned was reduced to ash. Mauriello's insurance company arranged for him to meet with a third party firm to finalize his list of goods that was lost.
“He’s going to have to come back in a couple weeks,” Mauriello said that night because there is more work to be done.
Health issues
Mauriello is scheduled to have an echocardiogram later this month. He takes his health seriously in that he is getting all the tests doctors recommend and doing what they say. But he is rather nonchalant when talking about it.
"I had a couple stress attacks. It's been going on for the past 25 years," he said in mid-November. "When I used to run marathons they used to give me prescribed nitroglycerin pills."
He's been cleared to go back to the gym at Lake Tahoe Community College. He is losing weight and knows shedding a few more pounds will be better for his heart.
Good and bad
Two unexpected checks arrived in November. One was for $100 from the Rotary Club. The other was for $2,000 from the Angora Fund that spawned out of the South Shore Chamber's initial fund-raising efforts.
"This came as a surprise. What is does is keeps you going until you get your paperwork (from the insurance company)," Mauriello said.
Nearly every month since the fire, Mauriello has attended a neighborhood gathering of survivors. It's open to anyone who lost a home -- owner or renter. It's at a rental home in town that easily accommodates a few dozen people.
"For me, it's more social because it seems everything that is talked about doesn't get done," Mauriello said privately at the November party. "I don't need politeness. I need someone who will say 'I'll take care of it. ' "
One of his biggest gripes with the whole cleanup was about removing the blackened trees on his lot per El Dorado County's mandate. When the county changed the policy to say tree removal would be part of the overall debris excavation project, Mauriello and others were told their insurance companies would not be reimbursed.
At the end of the insurance settlement, it means that much less for landscaping for property owners. In Mauriello's case, that amount is $3,400.
At that November get-together, county Supervisor Norma Santiago surprised everyone by telling them there is a way for compensation for tree removal. In Mauriello’s case he was billed $24,000 by the county for debris removal. His insurance policy covers $20,000. Santiago said in so many words for Mauriello to have his insurance company reimburse the county for $16,600 so then the trees are not a hit to his landscaping fund. The county will pick up the remainder through it’s arrangement with the state.
“I was pleasantly surprised the responsibility of the tree removal will be the responsibility of the county,” Mauriello said days after the meeting. “This is all verbal. I don’t have anything in writing.”
Mauriello knows of one survivor who is on his third insurance adjuster.
"They deliberately do that to slow the process down," Mauriello said.
While most of the time Mauriello is full of compliments and praise for the community, he was left with a bitter taste from Grocery Outlet last month. The owners refused to accept his check because his address is not printed on it.
He knows he will be moving again. He just doesn't know when the next move will or where to. He's tried of changing his checks. He's not going back to Grocery Outlet.
"She wouldn't even look it. She said she does the books and checks like this bounce," Mauriello said of the owner. "I wrote her a letter after the episode and I didn't get the courtesy of a response. I explained why my checks don't have an address."
Grocery Outlet owner Kim Schouten plans to respond to Mauriello’s letter. She said the check writing policy is posted at each checkout stand.
“We can’t do something for one person that we don’t do for all,” Schouten said. However, she went on to say, “He is more than welcome to come back and talk to me and we can set something up with him.”
Editor's note: This is a monthly article following one of the hundreds of people who lost their homes in the Angora Fire in summer 2007.
By Kathryn Reed
The "for sale" sign is gone. Fingers are sore. Trips to doctors are ongoing. Checks arrive unexpectedly. Another year older. Kitchen is essentially duplicated. Holiday decorations don't seem that important.
That's a snapshot of the last month of John Mauriello's life.
Mauriello is content to hold on to his Mount Olympia Circle lot until spring before he decides whether to build or sell.
"Mathematically, where the real estate market is I can buy an existing house for cheaper than rebuilding a smaller house," he said in early December. "People who are building up there don't know what it's like to live up there. There's no wildlife."
He admits the views are better. But without trees, the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and other critters aren't scurrying about like they did before the illegal campfire erupted into an out of control blaze that destroyed more than 250 homes on June 24.
Mauriello noticed the absence of wildlife almost immediately upon moving into a rental in the burn area last month. It's one of the more ominous things about being there. Coyotes -- that's all he's seen.
He worries about seeing a prefabricated house being assembled, questions if it conforms to regulations up here and wonders what it might do to property values. Then he wonders aloud if this type of house is OK, then why is the county building department making it so difficult to build from scratch?
Life goes on
On Thanksgiving weekend, the retiree turned 69. It was a low key event.
For the holiday, he had a few friends over to eat a bird and all the trimmings.
A week before Thanksgiving, this insensitive reporter asked if he'd be making any family recipes.
"They were destroyed," Mauriello said to silence on the other end of the phone. "We'll see how good my memory is. If I screw up, I have an excuse."
The best part of that weekend was Saturday when his grand piano arrived.
"When you get to my age and you stop playing for a couple months, your fingers get pretty stiff," Mauriello said two days after the Yamaha arrived.
His insurance company reimbursed him for the large expense in a matter of days. He had to show proof of purchase for the first grand. The company where he had bought it from was able to provide documentation.
Sheet music is still something he needs to acquire. Jazz and classical are what he enjoys playing the most.
For the most part his kitchen is stocked with items he had before the fire -- at least the things that could be replaced.
"Yesterday I went and bought more stuff. I still haven't scratched the surface. I bought things like throws for the furniture for the cats. Stuff I had at the other place," Mauriello said Nov. 12. "I spent the whole day buying towels, bathroom rugs. Usually things that take years to accumulate you are buying all at once. It's a pain in the ass."
Typical of so many in Tahoe, Mauriello lives in tennis shoes and hiking boots. On Dec. 3, he was out shopping. He didn’t get any shoes, but knows the flip flops are going to have to be put away for a few months.
"When you have the opportunity of starting over again, you are a little more selective of what you buy. You don't just buy something that is junk," Mauriello said.
He has a snow shovel. Replacing the snow blower will happen when there is something to blow.
He began Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. figuring out his inventory -- something that has been a burden since everything he owned was reduced to ash. Mauriello's insurance company arranged for him to meet with a third party firm to finalize his list of goods that was lost.
“He’s going to have to come back in a couple weeks,” Mauriello said that night because there is more work to be done.
Health issues
Mauriello is scheduled to have an echocardiogram later this month. He takes his health seriously in that he is getting all the tests doctors recommend and doing what they say. But he is rather nonchalant when talking about it.
"I had a couple stress attacks. It's been going on for the past 25 years," he said in mid-November. "When I used to run marathons they used to give me prescribed nitroglycerin pills."
He's been cleared to go back to the gym at Lake Tahoe Community College. He is losing weight and knows shedding a few more pounds will be better for his heart.
Good and bad
Two unexpected checks arrived in November. One was for $100 from the Rotary Club. The other was for $2,000 from the Angora Fund that spawned out of the South Shore Chamber's initial fund-raising efforts.
"This came as a surprise. What is does is keeps you going until you get your paperwork (from the insurance company)," Mauriello said.
Nearly every month since the fire, Mauriello has attended a neighborhood gathering of survivors. It's open to anyone who lost a home -- owner or renter. It's at a rental home in town that easily accommodates a few dozen people.
"For me, it's more social because it seems everything that is talked about doesn't get done," Mauriello said privately at the November party. "I don't need politeness. I need someone who will say 'I'll take care of it. ' "
One of his biggest gripes with the whole cleanup was about removing the blackened trees on his lot per El Dorado County's mandate. When the county changed the policy to say tree removal would be part of the overall debris excavation project, Mauriello and others were told their insurance companies would not be reimbursed.
At the end of the insurance settlement, it means that much less for landscaping for property owners. In Mauriello's case, that amount is $3,400.
At that November get-together, county Supervisor Norma Santiago surprised everyone by telling them there is a way for compensation for tree removal. In Mauriello’s case he was billed $24,000 by the county for debris removal. His insurance policy covers $20,000. Santiago said in so many words for Mauriello to have his insurance company reimburse the county for $16,600 so then the trees are not a hit to his landscaping fund. The county will pick up the remainder through it’s arrangement with the state.
“I was pleasantly surprised the responsibility of the tree removal will be the responsibility of the county,” Mauriello said days after the meeting. “This is all verbal. I don’t have anything in writing.”
Mauriello knows of one survivor who is on his third insurance adjuster.
"They deliberately do that to slow the process down," Mauriello said.
While most of the time Mauriello is full of compliments and praise for the community, he was left with a bitter taste from Grocery Outlet last month. The owners refused to accept his check because his address is not printed on it.
He knows he will be moving again. He just doesn't know when the next move will or where to. He's tried of changing his checks. He's not going back to Grocery Outlet.
"She wouldn't even look it. She said she does the books and checks like this bounce," Mauriello said of the owner. "I wrote her a letter after the episode and I didn't get the courtesy of a response. I explained why my checks don't have an address."
Grocery Outlet owner Kim Schouten plans to respond to Mauriello’s letter. She said the check writing policy is posted at each checkout stand.
“We can’t do something for one person that we don’t do for all,” Schouten said. However, she went on to say, “He is more than welcome to come back and talk to me and we can set something up with him.”
North Tahoe golf courses recognized
Associated Press - December 20, 2007 5:24 PM ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Two golf courses in the Lake Tahoe area are being honored by Golf Digest and a national group of golf course superintendents for their environmental practices.
Old Greenwood Golf Course in Truckee was named the top resort course nationally in terms of commitment to environmental stewardship as part of the Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards selected by the magazine and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
The Golf Club at Gray's Crossing, located just across U.S. Interstate 80 from Old Greenwood, was picked as the winner of the private course award for the association's Sierra Nevada chapter. TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas won for top private course in the southern Nevada chapter.
The overall winner nationally was The Marvel Golf Club in Benton, Ky., which will be featured in an upcoming issue of Golf Digest.
The superintendents of the courses will be formally recognized at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando at the end of January, including Old Greenwood's Jonathan Moulton, Gray's Crossing's Michael Cornette and TPC Summerlin's Dale Hahn.
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Two golf courses in the Lake Tahoe area are being honored by Golf Digest and a national group of golf course superintendents for their environmental practices.
Old Greenwood Golf Course in Truckee was named the top resort course nationally in terms of commitment to environmental stewardship as part of the Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards selected by the magazine and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
The Golf Club at Gray's Crossing, located just across U.S. Interstate 80 from Old Greenwood, was picked as the winner of the private course award for the association's Sierra Nevada chapter. TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas won for top private course in the southern Nevada chapter.
The overall winner nationally was The Marvel Golf Club in Benton, Ky., which will be featured in an upcoming issue of Golf Digest.
The superintendents of the courses will be formally recognized at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando at the end of January, including Old Greenwood's Jonathan Moulton, Gray's Crossing's Michael Cornette and TPC Summerlin's Dale Hahn.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Big dump in Tahoe
The snow gods have heard the chants and responded to the dancing just in time for the holidays and as kids start to get out of school and parents haul them to the slopes.
Around 11pm last night the hot tub was a miserable experience with a mix of rain-snow pelting bare skin.
By 8am today about 6 inches were cleared from the driveway and back deck ... and we're right at lake level in South Lake Tahoe. Another two have fallen since then. The sky is going from gray to blue now ... ah, it's Tahoe at its best.
Higher elevations got even more of the white stuff. This bodes well for the resorts to open up more terrain, if not the whole mountain.
Remember A Massage at Tahoe when you are done shoveling, schussing or just need to relax while you are in South Lake!
Around 11pm last night the hot tub was a miserable experience with a mix of rain-snow pelting bare skin.
By 8am today about 6 inches were cleared from the driveway and back deck ... and we're right at lake level in South Lake Tahoe. Another two have fallen since then. The sky is going from gray to blue now ... ah, it's Tahoe at its best.
Higher elevations got even more of the white stuff. This bodes well for the resorts to open up more terrain, if not the whole mountain.
Remember A Massage at Tahoe when you are done shoveling, schussing or just need to relax while you are in South Lake!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bi-state fire commish wants input
At its meeting on December 15, 2007, the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission voted to invite anyone to propose "Findings and Recommendations" for consideration to be included in the Commission's final report, which will be submitted to the Governors of California and Nevada by March 21, 2008.
To submit your proposed Findings and Recommendations, go to Commission's "Document" weblink below and:
1. Download the "Process for Developing Findings and Recommendations."
2. Use the template on p. 2 of the Word document to draft your proposed Finding(s) and Recommendation(s).
3. To allow the Commission adequate time to consider your proposal, please submit your completed document electronically to Commission staff as soon as possible (email address appears in Step 2 of "Process").
4. Anything submitted later than February 15, 2008, may not be considered due to time constraints.
http://resources.ca.gov/TahoeFireCommission/document_library.html#documents
If you have any questions, please contact Dana Cole, Commission Staff Liaison, at (916)708-5059.
To submit your proposed Findings and Recommendations, go to Commission's "Document" weblink below and:
1. Download the "Process for Developing Findings and Recommendations."
2. Use the template on p. 2 of the Word document to draft your proposed Finding(s) and Recommendation(s).
3. To allow the Commission adequate time to consider your proposal, please submit your completed document electronically to Commission staff as soon as possible (email address appears in Step 2 of "Process").
4. Anything submitted later than February 15, 2008, may not be considered due to time constraints.
http://resources.ca.gov/TahoeFireCommission/document_library.html#documents
If you have any questions, please contact Dana Cole, Commission Staff Liaison, at (916)708-5059.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
City manager weighs in on court decision
December 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Jinkens
City Manager & Director of Emergency Services
(530)542-6045
(530)542-4054 fax
djinkens@cityofslt.us
KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY FIRE SAFE
Our recent experience with the Angora Fire and the fires in Southern California demonstrate clearly the threat to the environment and the threat to life and property that we face from catastrophic fire. Catastrophic fire in the Tahoe Basin will destroy the hard work and effort of all of us to improve water quality, air quality, create habitat, build a strong and diverse economy, and protect the lives and property of people who live and recreate here.
Catastrophic fire will not wait ten years as proposed in the USFS Fuel Reduction Plan. I understand that the USFS already spends approximately 50% of the funding for fuels reduction either directly or indirectly on environmental studies prior to beginning work, or on monitoring of environmental impacts afterward. They do so because they are required to do so. This existing timeline dramatically reduces the amount of funds available to reduce the actual fire threat. These existing studies already add years to the time table for actual fuel reduction.
The recently reported U.S. District Court ruling against the USFS (attached) regarding the need for even more environmental studies to be done before fuel reduction can proceed creates a cloud on whether local officials and informed and responsible regulatory agency representatives in this Region will be able to effectively reduce dangerous fuel levels before the next major fire. Those of us who live in the real world understand that government at all levels must and will take the steps necessary to reduce fuels and hazards and create defensible space in the wild land-urban interface. We have no choice. The health and welfare of our environment and our communities depend on us. Catastrophic fire will not wait for more court-mandated studies over years to tell us how to reduce the threat. We already know.
As the members of the South Lake Tahoe City Council, TRPA Governing Board, Bi-State Fire Commission and fire safe council know, fuel reduction needs to be in the hands of fire prevention professionals and fire suppression and prevention agencies whose staff is trained and understand the danger and the solution to catastrophic fire. All of us must use the most effective and environmentally sensitive means to achieve our fire prevention goal, and we must not be deterred by those who argue for more studies before engaging in fuel reduction. Catastrophic fire will not wait for us, and we cannot ³fiddle while Rome burns.²
-30-
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Jinkens
City Manager & Director of Emergency Services
(530)542-6045
(530)542-4054 fax
djinkens@cityofslt.us
KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY FIRE SAFE
Our recent experience with the Angora Fire and the fires in Southern California demonstrate clearly the threat to the environment and the threat to life and property that we face from catastrophic fire. Catastrophic fire in the Tahoe Basin will destroy the hard work and effort of all of us to improve water quality, air quality, create habitat, build a strong and diverse economy, and protect the lives and property of people who live and recreate here.
Catastrophic fire will not wait ten years as proposed in the USFS Fuel Reduction Plan. I understand that the USFS already spends approximately 50% of the funding for fuels reduction either directly or indirectly on environmental studies prior to beginning work, or on monitoring of environmental impacts afterward. They do so because they are required to do so. This existing timeline dramatically reduces the amount of funds available to reduce the actual fire threat. These existing studies already add years to the time table for actual fuel reduction.
The recently reported U.S. District Court ruling against the USFS (attached) regarding the need for even more environmental studies to be done before fuel reduction can proceed creates a cloud on whether local officials and informed and responsible regulatory agency representatives in this Region will be able to effectively reduce dangerous fuel levels before the next major fire. Those of us who live in the real world understand that government at all levels must and will take the steps necessary to reduce fuels and hazards and create defensible space in the wild land-urban interface. We have no choice. The health and welfare of our environment and our communities depend on us. Catastrophic fire will not wait for more court-mandated studies over years to tell us how to reduce the threat. We already know.
As the members of the South Lake Tahoe City Council, TRPA Governing Board, Bi-State Fire Commission and fire safe council know, fuel reduction needs to be in the hands of fire prevention professionals and fire suppression and prevention agencies whose staff is trained and understand the danger and the solution to catastrophic fire. All of us must use the most effective and environmentally sensitive means to achieve our fire prevention goal, and we must not be deterred by those who argue for more studies before engaging in fuel reduction. Catastrophic fire will not wait for us, and we cannot ³fiddle while Rome burns.²
-30-
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